Bigamy in Düsseldorf

It sounded like a fairly straightforward assignment for Kurtz Investigations Düsseldorf: “Obtain a birth certificate for me.”

 

Our London client had learned last year that her husband maintained a second family in Germany. One child was already five years old; the second was allegedly born in April 2013.

 

Our client had been resourceful enough to establish names, addresses and workplaces for her German “rival”. With those details she now wanted to commission Kurtz Detective Agency Düsseldorf to obtain the birth certificate of the boy reportedly born in April, so that she could present sufficient proof of her husband’s bigamy to the authorities in London and have the marriage annulled. From the point of view of our Düsseldorf detectives, her interest appeared legitimate. Obtaining the birth certificate from the Essen Registry Office seemed merely a formality.

 

But how wrong we were: the birth certificate was not on file at the registry office, nor were there any entries for mother, father or children at the Essen citizens’ registration office. Our client’s data proved to be incorrect. The detectives of Kurtz Investigations Düsseldorf still had one lead: the website of a beauty salon listed the mother as a member of staff.

 

One of our Düsseldorf female detectives immediately arranged an appointment for the end of the working day, which she cancelled at short notice on the agreed day. By then two detectives from Kurtz Detective Agency Düsseldorf were already waiting outside the shop for the subject to finish work. Two detectives — fortunately. Because the subject was not simply going to get into her car.

 

By Underground, changing trains twice, they first travelled to the main station and then spent half an hour on a train to a small town in the Rhineland. The detective assigned to the cosmetic appointment from Kurtz Investigations Düsseldorf followed the subject step by step on foot, while the second investigator manoeuvred his vehicle at speed between the railway stations and, fortunately, arrived ahead of the subject at her stop. For it was here that the husband of our client collected his second wife by car, so that the on-foot detective from Kurtz Detective Agency Düsseldorf would no longer have had a chance.

 

The surveillance of the subjects to their home address provided Kurtz Investigations Düsseldorf with the information which — after several further enquiries with the authorities — ultimately sufficed for the issuance of the desired certificate. Our client is now single again and can look forward to a more positive future.